Krugman doesn't think the Obama team can correct their course [View All]

[pscot]

either economically or politically. He cites the Bradblog:

So the only strong policy views in the administration’s internal debate mix right now are those of people who were wrong in the summer of 2009.

And when I talk to their staffs, the message I hear is not “we were wrong about how the world works, and are rethinking the issues from the ground up to figure out what to do” but instead “we were unlucky: our policies were good”.

Worse, what Brad suggests — and it’s my impression, too — is that policy formation is being seriously distorted by unwillingness to acknowledge past error. People who opposed stronger action in the past continue to oppose strong action now, in part because that would be admitting, at least implicitly, that they were wrong before. The stimulus was the right size; the HAMP program was the best that could be done; it would have been irresponsible to take action on China; and so we must stay the course, never mind the unemployment rate.

Of course, this applies to matters non-economic as well, as witness Obama’s continuing and increasingly bizarre efforts to transcend partisanship.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/